Post by leunas on Mar 10, 2007 4:41:49 GMT -5
The non-profit association One Laptop Per Child has a mission of developing a low-cost US 100 laptop, and has a vision of revolutionizing - with the laptop's help - how the world's children are educated. The goal is to distribute an OLPC Children's Machine XO laptop to every child in underdeveloped nations around the world.
Nice and sweet for sure, but the kids won't just be using the cheap lappy for educational purposes. They get to play god with it too.
OLPC News reports that their call for games on their first laptop the OLPC Children's Machine XO is starting to be heard, and they're now going to get an Open Source version of SimCity for the OLPC, thanks to Electronic Arts and Will Wright.
While allowing kids to rain down disasters and send alien invaders to destroy their Sim-filled custom metropolis, It is reported that the goal is to eventually have the open source community renovate SimCity and take it in new educational directions. Seymour Papert's ideas about constructionist education will definitely apply here.
OLPC is at the Game Developers Conference 2007 by the way, and they've got an early build of SimCity on display at their booth.
Article:
feeds.feedburner.com/~r/qj/qjnet/~3/100420891/85489